


To Learn A Language

by consideritalljoy



Series: Cycles Continue [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Thrawn - Timothy Zahn
Genre: Canon Compliant, Coda, Eli in Chissworld, Fluff, Gen, Nicknames, Slice of Life, language learning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-19 14:54:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11900067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/consideritalljoy/pseuds/consideritalljoy
Summary: Eli comes aboard the Springhawk and Lieutenant Murofu’oro’ratu begins to teach him Cheunh, and ends up talking about Thrawn.





	To Learn A Language

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Cystemic on Tumblr for the creation of Fuoror, as well as Humansrsuperior, Moomkin, and the rest of the Chiss Ascendency. I hope he's true-to-character. :)
> 
> Also thanks to Cystemic for the lovely Cheunh help.

When Eli’s shuttle landed, he stumbled through the process of meeting Admiral Ar’alani. From Thrawn’s description, he’d expected someone a bit more… friendly, really. She seemed forgiving enough of his limitations surrounding Chiss tradition, at least. Well, maybe not forgiving. Tolerant. 

He could work with that. 

She’d left as soon as she could after meeting him and left him in the care of a few other Chiss. Eli was left standing awkwardly by his shuttle, unsure of how to proceed. Luckily, a younger, tall Chiss with slicked back hair and one strand out of place stepped forward to help the transition along. 

The Chiss’s posture was rigid, even for the military, and Eli had spent enough time around Chiss eyes to see the pride in these. “I am Lieutenant Murofu’oro’ratu,” the Chiss told him. “I have been instructed to teach you as much Cheunh as one of your kind can learn as well as act as your aide during your time within the Defense Fleet. I am very pleased to meet an associate of Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo.” 

“Hello,” Eli said hesitantly. The admiral hadn’t taken to that greeting well, but he didn’t really know any others. This lieutenant seemed more willing to accept it, in any case. “I am pleased to meet you as well. Your service will be invaluable, I am sure.” 

Lieutenant Murofu’oro’ratu nodded stiffly. “I have always been one to maintain efficiency in productivity. Concerning your language lessons, I wish to discern at once your current level of competency. As a former aide to Commander Mitth’raw’nuruodo, I am sure you are already able to understand some of our language at the very least, rendering this task much simpler.” 

Eli gulped. “Actually, not much. We communicated using Sy Bisti at first, and then I taught him Basic. I never heard much Cheunh.”

“Oh,” Lieutenant Murofu’oro’ratu said flatly. “In that case, your instruction may take longer than I supposed. That said, you are clearly a fast learner, or Commander Mitth’raw’nuruodo would not have honored you with the training you received from him.” 

“I hope so,” Eli answered with more confidence than he felt. 

“This way, please.” 

Lieutenant Murofu’oro’ratu led Eli through the ship at a quick pace that Eli easily matched. The nervous energy in him liked having somewhere to go. All he knew about Cheunh was that it was a hard language for humans to learn. 

And he needed to learn it, fast. Starting with the lieutenant’s name. What was it? Muro… Murofu… It was gone. He had no idea. He could remember that Thrawn’s full name was Mitth’raw’nuruodo, and that at least he knew he could pronounce properly. That didn’t really count for much.

Lieutenant Murofu’something stopped abruptly before a door and opened it. Inside was a fairly typical room where Eli guessed he would be staying. Sure enough, the lieutenant indicated that Eli should enter. “These are your quarters. Tomorrow, I will take you on a tour of this ship so that you can begin to acquaint yourself with the differences between this and the kind of craft you’re used to. For the time being, I believe it would be best to begin your language instruction.” 

“Oh. Right. Yes. Very good,” Eli stumbled, trying—and in his own opinion, failing—to sound professional. “Should we work in here?”

The lieutenant eyed him with confusion. “That was my implication, yes.” 

“Right. Well, come in, then.” 

The lieutenant entered the room and closed the door behind him, leaving them both in the dark. After only a moment, lights flicked on overhead of their own accord. Rather than the artificial light sources Eli was used to, this light came as if from every direction, and wasn’t as stagnant. 

Looking up, Eli found that the ceiling was lined with glowing panels that evenly lit the entire room, and that the undertones shifted gently between warm and cool tinges. The changing light was just frequent enough to be noticeable but gradual enough to not disturb. It felt more natural. All the same, Eli was left feeling slightly uneasy as he stared up at the mechanism. It didn’t seem right somehow. Then again, very few things in this place were likely to seem normal to him. 

“Commander?” the lieutenant asked. 

Eli’s head snapped back to the Chiss’s face. His eyebrows knit together in almost the same way Thrawn’s did whenever Eli did something that confused him. Blinking rapidly, Eli couldn’t decide if that fact made him want to shrink or smile. He settled on nodding stiffly once. “Lessons,” he said.

The lieutenant mimicked his nod, but more slowly as the eyebrows cleared. “Indeed. Shall we sit?” 

Hastily, Eli did so, and the lieutenant followed. “Is there anything you know of Cheunh already?” the lieutenant asked. 

“Like I said, not really. I know how to pronounce ‘Mitth’raw’nuruodo,’ which probably doesn’t surprise you-”

The lieutenant’s eyebrows then raised. “I was told that name was a difficult one for humans. That you have mastered its pronunciation so well indicates that you should have no trouble with the rest of the language.”

“Yeah, well. My CO’s name isn’t really the same as a whole language, but I’ll take your word for it. That’s pretty much all I know. That and “na’chah,” which I used earlier when I was introducing myself.” 

The lieutenant paused for a few seconds. “Let us begin with my name then, since we will be in such close proximity. Repeat: Murofu’oro’ratu.”

So that was his name. Murofu’oro’ratu. Eli repeated it in his head a few times, desperate to at least remember what it sounded like if not how to actually say it. It sounded easy enough when the lieutenant said it, but then, it was his own name in his own language. “Muro-fu-oro-”

“No,” the lieutenant cut in, shaking his head. “Not ‘foo-oh.’ It’s ‘fuo,’ one syllable.”

“That’s too many vowels to be one syllable,” Eli argued, more petulantly than out of actual concern. 

“In your language, perhaps, but not in Cheunh. Try again,” the lieutenant suggested. 

“Muro-fryuo-rou-fra-” Eli cut himself off in an angry sigh. “That’s not it either, is it.”

“You added an extra ‘r,’” the lieutenant commented. “Try again.”

Eli did try again. In fact, he tried several more times. His cheeks were burning up. Why couldn’t he say it? His first word in Cheunh, the name of his new instructor, and he couldn’t even say it. 

After several attempts, the lieutenant paused. “Maybe that is too much for you at the present time. Try my core name alone. ‘Fuoror.’” 

Eli shrugged with a frown. “That still has the syllable I can’t say in it.”

“Perhaps having less to say will help. Please try it, commander,” the lieutenant asked. He seemed unsure of what else to do. Eli found himself really hoping the rest of Cheunh would get easier. 

“Alright, here goes nothing… Fyoruror.” Eli grimaced. “Still no, huh?” 

“You’re still adding consonants.” 

With an annoyed huff, Eli tried to position his mouth to say the foreign syllables again. “Lieutenant Fu-” He stopped. “No, now I can’t do it at all. Maybe switch to some other words and come back to this?” he suggested. 

Seemingly without any better ideas, Lieutenant Fuoror agreed. After only a few hours, Eli claimed an expansive Cheunh vocabulary of eleven words, mostly military terms and a few useful things like the words for ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ ‘Lieutenant’ was ‘H’sottor’ in Cheunh, and apparently Eli’s new title would be ‘Crahsystor Imperia,’ or ‘Imperial Commander.’” 

“Shall we try my name again?” Lieutenant Fuoror asked. 

Eli nodded. “Right. Mind repeating it for me?” 

“Fuoror.” 

Breathing in deeply, Eli channeled whatever talent in linguistics he could claim to possess and said, “Fwrowroar.” He immediately grimaced. 

“There is no ‘r’ in the first syllable,” Lieutenant Fuoror said, bewildered. “You can pronounce the admiral’s name, and Commander Mitth’raw’nuruodo’s, and you have picked up on other words in this language remarkably quickly, and yet you insist that there are three r’s in my core name. There are only two.” 

Eli could feel his cheeks burning. “Yeah, well,” he said. “None of those other words seemed as hard. My tongue can’t move fast enough for your name, or something.” 

Lieutenant Fuoror nodded his head with knitted eyebrows, clearly trying to understand what was making his name so difficult for Eli. The pure confusion, unmuddled by the xenophobia Eli had come aboard expecting—and gotten from most of the Chiss—seemed almost endearing. 

He chuckled. “Maybe for now I should eliminate the r’s all together and just stick with ‘H'sottor Fufu.’” 

The eyebrows knitted tighter. “What?”

Eli tried not to inwardly berate himself for the slip-up. “It was a joke. You know, because I can’t say your core name, so I could use an even shorter version instead. It’s… supposed to be funny. Well. At least lighten the mood, since we’re both getting discouraged over this I think.” 

“I confess, I do not know what else to say to you that would help you pronounce this properly,” Lieutenant Fuoror admitted. 

The silence as both men, unalike in all but their identical expressions of discouraged confusion, sat together on the edge of the bed was palpable. It was some time before Lieutenant Fuoror broke it again with a small, one-sided smile as he directed his eyes to Eli. “Fufu?” he said again, and the smile widened. 

“Don’t bother, it was a stupid thing to say,” Eli answered. 

“But I like it,” Lieutenant Fuoror said. “Do humans come up with ridiculous names for each other often?” His tone still held nothing but pure curiosity. 

Eli flicked his eyes between the ground and Lieutenant Fuoror. “Kind of, if the name is long enough for it. Mine’s already pretty short I guess, so I don’t have any.” Explaining meaningless human customs to a curious Chiss felt familiar. Eli smiled a little. 

“Did Commander Mitth’raw’nuruodo ever have any?” 

“Well, he let everyone use his core name all the time, so I guess you could say that. Everyone in the Empire calls him just ‘Thrawn.’ Most people don’t even know he has any other name.” 

Lieutenant Fuoror’s eyes grew wide as Eli explained. “What admirable condescension,” he breathed with an all-new air about him—one imbued with a sense of wonder. 

“Did you know him?” Eli asked. 

“I served under him for a short time before his exile. I was nearly exiled as well, actually. Admiral Ar’alani managed to keep me from sharing Commander Mitth’raw’nuruodo’s fate. I am forever indebted to her for that. The commander did not deserve exile,” he added, a dark shadow crossing his face. “We crossed paths but a little, but his deeds were widely known.” 

The shadow lifted a little as he looked back to Eli. “To serve under him in such close proximity must have been the highest honor. Simply being in such close proximity to one trained by Commander Mitth’raw’nuruodo personally is an honor in and of itself.” 

Eli met Lieutenant Fuoror’s eyes and some of the discouragement faded. “I don't think I realized how big an honor it was until I was partway into it. When the Empire found him on his exile planet, he was just a lone alien. I got assigned to teach him Basic since I knew Sy Bisti, and I guess he liked me enough to keep me around. I was on the supply track before he threw me into strategy.” 

Lieutenant Fuoror’s already-wide eyes grew wider still. “Supply? How fortunate that the commander found you before that was irreversible. You would have been wasted on supply.” 

Eli let himself laugh openly. “That's exactly what he told me once. I admit, I don't always see what people make all this fuss over. Sometimes I still feel like I belong in supply and ended up in the wrong life by mistake. Not that I won't help with your current problems,” he added quickly. “I'll help as much as I can with what I was taught. I guess that's all anyone can do.” 

“Your teacher was of a most high prestige,” Lieutenant Fuoror agreed. “If Crahsystor Mitth’raw’nuruodo places such a high value in your abilities, you must be of excellent caliber yourself. I look forward to serving under you, Crahsystor Imperia, Eli’van’to.” 

Tentatively, Eli quickly patted Lieutenant Fuoror's shoulder. The tension in his body that he'd started with was gone. “I look forward to serving alongside you as well, H’sottor Fu- Fufu.” 

This time, Lieutenant Fuoror only smiled, amusement lighting his eyes. “Perhaps that isn't such a bad alternative for now, until you master the full core, anyway,” he laughed.


End file.
